The Annual Child Poverty Monitor reports on child poverty measures and child-poverty-related indicators. Around one in three Māori children are defined as living in poverty. While the Monitor is a prompt for government action to reduce child poverty, it has been criticised as presenting a negative view of the lives of Māori children and whānau. This paper considers whether a fuller picture of the lived realities of Māori children can be gained from routinely collected data, using a lens of tamariki Māori wellbeing.

Rights-based approaches to health in Aotearoa New Zealand have increased in recent years. However, dominant Westernised conceptualisations of rights have been criticised for their ties to colonialism and individualistic focus. This paper presents Oranga Mokopuna as an alternative which disrupts Western notions of rights that are assumed to have universal application. Based in Te Ao Māori, Oranga Mokopuna provides a conceptual frame of reference for the realisation of tāngata whenua rights to health and wellbeing.

The Atiawa ki Whakarongotai Charitable Trust recently instigated qualitative research to better understand the notion of iwi connectedness and the link with oranga. This paper reports of the findings of that research, which examined how connectedness is understood by iwi and identified implications of connectedness on oranga. Thirty Atiawa ki Whakarongotai iwi members were interviewed between February and June 2015 using a semi-structured interview guide.

Central to the concept of iwi vitality is the notion that iwi are able to actively determine what matters to them from a mana whenua perspective. This paper argues that progress towards the achievement of iwi vitality can be measured in a way that is consistent with iwi values and aspirations. The paper reports on research that explores what it means to be well at the iwi level for Ngāi Tai. The research involved wānanga at Tōrere Marae with Ngāi Tai participants and14 “expert” interviews. A Ngāi Tai Vitality Outcomes Framework is presented.

This article explores the development of Māori and Indigenous frameworks of resilience, considering the impact of engaging with largely State-led notions of resilience on Māori development. We highlight the closely linked notion of resistance, asserting the necessity of a fi rm political analysis from Indigenous researchers engaged in this discourse. One of the Indigenous criticisms of resilience theories is that by defi nition they assume an acceptance of responsibility for our position as disadvantaged individuals.